Mixed-income housing sought for Lathrop-Wicker Park Booster
Mixed-income housing sought for Lathrop
BY PATRICK BUTLER | STAFF WRITER
pbutler@pioneerlocal.com
Residents want say in CHA plans
Alderman Manny Flores ,1st, and State Sen. Iris Martinez, D-20th, promised to fight to keep theLathrop Homes "100 percent affordable," but said that can't happen unless everyone — residents, elected officials, financial institutions and the Chicago Housing Authority — works together.
Speaking at a July 25th rally in a softball field on the 2800 block of North Leavitt, Flores and Martinez agreed there is still time to get the CHA to revise its "transformation" plan to replace the 70-year old campus with a mixture of market-rate, "affordable," and low-income units.
While the CHA's current plans to turn most of its campuses into mixed-income developments, community leaders like the Rev. Edie Lenz, pastor of the Church of the Good News, 2156 W. Wellington, said Lathrop isn't in the middle of a blighted area like most other CHA projects.
"We're already surrounded by market-rate housing and wealthy people. We need affordable housing and public housing," Lenz reminded the more than 100 Lathrop residents who turned out for the rally. Noting that what happens at Lathrop will affect surrouding neighborhoods, Lisette Casteneda of the Logan Sqare Tenants Association said her community coalition's 45 member institutions unanimously endorsed the Lathrop residents' goals, including "transformation without displacement."
Lenz said rising property values have already been squeezing low- and middle-income families out of the area. And many residents fear that when the new buildings are built, they won't be invited back to the 35-area complex some have called home all their lives.
CHA officials say 400 of the planned 1,200 housing units will be for current residents, plus another 100 more families. Another 400 apartments would be "affordable," and 400 more would be market rate, they added.
About 600 of Lathrop's 925 units are currently vacant, according to the CHA.
CHA officals say isolating poor people in the middle of a gentrifying neighborhood would run counter to the whole idea behind the "Plan for Transformation," which is to mainstream low-income project residents into the larger community.
Moreover, they added, some market rate housing is needed to entice developers not interested in only building affordable housing, which they said can be a "cumbersome" process.
"We look forward to continuing to work with residents and resident leadership in building a mixed-income community at Lathrop," said CHA spokesman Karen Price.
Flores said there are as yet no estimates on how much the "transformation" of Lathrop will cost and no renderings from would-be developers, which he said means Lathrop residents should still have an opportnity for input.
If residents don't seize the chance, he said, "then someone else will make the decisions about your future. Someone will tell you where you will live and work, how your children will be educated, and what the vision of your community will be."
Flores conceded there are "obstacles," such as financing and even getting a seat at the planningtable, but he said he sees the CHA as a "strategic partner."
"Lathrop Homes is unlike many of the other CHA developments. We have jobs, we have good building stock in a neighborhood with high property values," said Flores.
One myth he said he'd like to destroy is that "100 percent affordable" means completely low-income government-subsidized. "We're also talking about housing for teachers and social workers, as well as other middle-class professionals" who would have to be making at least $40,000 a year to make the mortage payments and pay for upkeep.
Lenz said the Lathrop "working group" made up of resident leaders, representatives of the LSNA, the Cotter Boys and Girls Club, Schneider School, and the DePaul Counseling Center, as well as her church, has recently had "one good conversation" with the CHA.
"It didn't get us where we want to go, but I think we made progress," she said. "The easy way would be to let the CHA do what they've done everywhere else. But we're not always into the easy way, because the easy way is not always the right way."
If necessary, she said, "a visit downtown to the Mayor's office is certainly a possibility."